Conventionally to manufacture joined laminated media by joining the laminated media of membrane materials by pressing them, a roll-type press is used where the laminated media are transported and then inserted between the rolls that are opposed to each other. Recently this technology has been used to manufacture a Membrane-Electrode Assembly (hereafter, MEA) for a polymer electrolyte fuel cell, which is produced by stacking in layers a polymer electrolyte, a fuel electrode membrane, and an air electrode membrane, and joining them (for example, see Patent Document Nos. 1, 2, and 3).
For the method of manufacturing the joined laminated media mentioned above, when the laminated media of the polymer electrolyte, the fuel electrode membrane and the air electrode membrane were joined by being pressed, the displacement and deformation of the membrane materials were apt to occur and hence to lower the yield of the product. This is because an abrupt change of the force on the laminated media occurred or a friction between the laminated media and rolls was caused when laminated media passed through the rolls. Also, if air were left in the space between the laminated membrane materials, to discharge sufficient air from the space was difficult. Thus laminated media having defects in the joined boundary faces would be produced.
To solve this problem, a method to fix the laminated media and hold it in that state is proposed wherein the laminated media are disposed on the upper surface of a flexible sheet that is attached to a metal frame for fixing a sheet. On top of the metal frame for fixing a sheet, a sheet having the flexible sheet and an annular packing overlaps the metal frame. Then from a air-tight space formed by these components the air is discharged by having the closed space depressurized (For example, Patent Documents Nos. 4 and 5).